


"I... feel tall?"

by erintoknow



Series: Fallen Hero Sidestep AU Fanfics [11]
Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén
Genre: Extra-Canonical, Fluff, Gen, Nonbinary Character, POV Female Character, POV Second Person, Roller Derby, Teaching, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, learning, roller skates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 23:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20479511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erintoknow/pseuds/erintoknow
Summary: You fasten your helmet under your chin, checking the strap with a finger. It’s been a while, but getting back into gear is like riding the proverbial bike. If the bike had eight wheels and was stuck to your feet. You clap your hands together.“Okay… let’s start with the basics…”Anita shoots you a nervous glance as they finish fiddling with the laces of the skates.  “Y-you know, suddenly I’m not so sure about this.”





	"I... feel tall?"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gaydorkouswriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaydorkouswriter/gifts).

> Anita belongs to gaydorkouswriter!

You fasten your helmet under your chin, checking the strap with a finger. It’s been a while, but getting back into gear is like riding the proverbial bike. If the bike had eight wheels and was stuck to your feet. You clap your hands together.“Okay… let’s start with the basics…”

Anita shoots you a nervous glance as they finish fiddling with the laces of the skates.“Y-you know, suddenly I’m not so sure about this.”

Sigh, shake your head. “Aw, Neets, don’t chicken out on me now. You’ve been begging me to teach you for weeks.” You hold a hand out for Anita to grab on to. “Careful getting up.”

They hesitate for a moment and then grabs your hand, pulling down as you pull them up to their feet. They rises a little too fast and you have to put out your other arm to keep the top of their head from crashing into your nose.

Anita squeaks in alarm as they wobble on their skates,grabs at your side to keep herself steady. Your lucky they don’t pull you over, but you brace yourself and hold steady.

“You good Neets?”

“I’m fine!!” Their face is pressed a little too close to your chest for comfort if you’re honest with yourself.

“Okay…” You’re not really sure what to do so you settle for patting their head. “Then can you let go of me?”

A flash of red blooms across their face and they push you away. “Well, it’s a start,” You say, holding out your hands as you roll backwards across the empty lot. You twist to a stop. “How’re you feeling?”

“I… feel tall?” They hold their arms out at their sides, looking around. “And… I’m afraid to move.”

You bite back another laugh. “Everything’s different on wheels. But…” You tap your chin, “I think it’s good practice? Physical coordination and situational awareness are pretty important if you don’t want to face plant every time.”

Anita’s face brightens at that. “Yeah!! For like when we do v–”

“Completely legitimate business stuff!” You cut them off, raising your voice. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves?”

Anita shakes their head up and down vigorously. The movement sends their drifting backwards an inch and you have to push off to catch them. “S-sorry! Thanks…”

“First thing’s first, you need to work on your stance, don’t try to walk normally you’ll just fall.” You reach out, stop yourself, can feel slight warmth on your face as you smile sheepishly. “Do you mind…?”

Anita blinks, then bites their lip and nods their head – stops, shakes their head instead. “I’m good!”

“Okay… well, so here’s how you want to hold yourself…”

It takes a better part of an hour to walk Anita through the basics of movement. How to hold themself, how to kick off of, turn. Most importantly: how to come to a stop. To your surprise they only fell twice, and immediately got back up without complaint. Occasionally someone wandering by on the sidewalk would stop and stare and you’d throw them the bird, mentally nudging them to get on with their day. Anita didn’t need any more reasons to be nervous.

You’re standing in the middle of the lot, hands on your hips as you watch Anita circle the perimeter, eyes focused directly ahead of her, tongue sticking out slightly in concentration. Normally Anita’s mental presence has a fuzzy feeling to it, like a camera just out of focus but in the moment she seems totally present. Focused. You’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t feel a little pleased about it.

You kick off, catch up to them. “Alright Neets, you’re doing really great for your first time!” You hold at a hand for a high-five.

They glance at you, startled out of her concentration, sees your hand. They smile and claps your hand, you smile back. “This is, uh, this is fun.”

“Yeah, I forgot how much I missed this.” You shoot them a look, a smirk pulling at your mouth. “Now that you’re getting the hang of it, want to try a race?”

Anita blinks, “A race!?”

“Yeah! It’ll be practice.” You tilt your head, thinking. “Derby can get pretty rough, but no touching the other person for now, okay?”

“Right! Okay!!” Anita bobs their head up and down, body already tensing up.

“Okay, good. Loser has to buy the winner ice cream, deal?”

“What?”

You kick off, pulling ahead of her. “Com’on, try and keep up!”

“Wait!!”

You cackle the whole way around the lot.


End file.
